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I have gotten this question several times. Along with many other plastic bag recyclers, I cut plastic bags into long narrow strips for my plastic yarn, which is called plarn. Think…cut a plastic bag into one long continuous spiral. That’s how I do it. There is another technique…cut the bag in strips and then knot them together. But, I prefer working without knots in my plarn.

Mostly, for my plarn, I use the plastic bags that grocery and department stores send your newly purchased items home in. If the bag is a thicker/stiffer plastic, I cut it in a narrower strip so it is easier to crochet.

I also use newspaper bags, bread bags, and, on occasion, I have even used recycled plastic table cloths, emergency raincoats, trash bags (unused), and caution tape!

We all know that snowmen come from snow and melt away when the weather warms up. This winter we have had lots of snowstorms in Utah. Plenty of snow for everyone to have a family of snowmen hanging out in their yards!!

I chose to pass on making the cold and wet kind of snowmen, and have been working again on recycled plastic snowmen. You can read more about my crocheted snowmen here and here. Crocheting themini snowmen is my favorite because the start-to-finish time is pretty short.

My 5″ mini snowmen take 6 shopping bags to complete the body. I use a g or h hook, and cut my bags about an inch in width and then roll them up into balls of plarn for easier handling while crocheting. You can cut the plastic wider and use a larger hook to get a bit bigger snowman. These little ones are fun to set around the house, put in a Christmas stocking, or let the kids have for a toy.

After cutting the 6 bags I crochet the body based on a modified (free) pattern I found at Michael’s last winter—it is for tree ornament snowman made from regular yarn. When the body is finished I have fun finding colorful bags to make a hat and scarf set for each little man. The scarfs are simple to make since they’re just a long single crochet chain. Heavier plastic bags work well for scarves, giving them some rigidness. Because heavier plastic works wonderfully for hats and scarfs for snowmen I am able to use those bags which I pass on for crocheted purses. The hats are my own creation and they vary with each little snowman—some have traditional top hats while some have wintery pointed “stocking” caps.